Antidepressant Use in Pregnancy Harms Child Development, Untreated Maternal Depression Shows Benefit

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In this new study, exposure to maternal anxiety in utero also harmed child development.

Antidepressant Exposure In Utero May Negatively Impact Motor Skills in 2-Year-Old Children

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A new study in Frontiers of Pharmacology finds that antidepressant use during pregnancy is linked to reduced motor skills in children at 2 years...
3D render of placebo pills isolated over wood background

Placebo Effect—Not Antidepressants—Responsible for Depression Improvement

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In adolescent depression treatment, those who received a placebo but thought they received Prozac improved more than those who received the drug and knew it.
Pregnant woman visiting young psychologist

Animal Study Shows Impact of Prozac in Pregnancy on the Child

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Researchers found that rats born to mothers given the antidepressant Prozac during pregnancy or breastfeeding exhibited varied behavioral and developmental effects, with implications for the understanding of antidepressant impacts during human pregnancies.

SSRI Use During Pregnancy Alters the Child’s Brain Development

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Reduced brain volumes due to SSRI exposure in pregnancy was not explained by maternal depression alone.
Top View of Girl Sits on Bed with Scattered Pills. Little Child Sitting on Gray Badcover Near Opened Packing of Medicines Keeps Head with Hands. Unhappy Childhood Concept

Antidepressants Increase Suicide Attempts in Youth; No Preventative Effect

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Researchers find that SSRIs increase suicide attempts up to age 24, and have no preventative effect at any age, even for those at high risk of suicide.

Lexapro for Children: Drug With No Meaningful Benefit and Increased Suicidality Gets FDA Approval

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Response and remission rates were the same in the drug versus placebo groups, and Lexapro increased suicidality sixfold.
A boy is holding a head. He is unhappy and upset.

The Faulty Reasoning That Turned ADHD Into a Disease

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Leading ADHD researchers outline four mistakes that turned ADHD from a description of behavior into a medical disease.

Antidepressants Plus Immune Response Terminate Pregnancies in Mice

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Also, male mice born to mothers with an immune response exhibited “autistic-like” behaviors, scientists report.

Animals Exposed to Antidepressants in Utero Are Worse at Taking Care of Their Own...

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A new study in rats found that those exposed to antidepressants in utero had an impaired ability to nurture their own children in later life.

ADHD Diagnosis Leads to Worse Quality of Life, Increased Self-Harm in Kids

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When comparing kids with the same symptoms who were either diagnosed with ADHD or not, those who received the diagnosis had worse outcomes.
Illustration of a shape of a baby crawling made out of various types of pills, on a black background

Health Risks to Babies When Antidepressants Used During Pregnancy

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Babies born to mothers taking antidepressants during pregnancy were more than six times as likely to have neonatal withdrawal syndrome—including breathing problems, irritability/agitation, tremors, feeding problems, and seizures—than those born to mothers taking other types of drugs.

Stimulants Don’t Improve Academic Performance in Kids with ADHD

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“Efforts to improve learning in children with ADHD should focus on obtaining effective academic instruction rather than stimulant medication.”
Scowling teenage boy holding up pills sealed in blister packs in his hand as he leans on a wooden table with an intense stare

Risk of Depression Spikes When Kids Take Ritalin

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Risk of depression increased when children were taking methylphenidate for ADHD, but once they stopped taking the drug, depression risk dropped to normal levels.

How to Distinguish Antidepressant Withdrawal from Relapse

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Mark Horowitz and David Taylor provide advice on how to tell the difference between antidepressant withdrawal and depression relapse.

Antipsychotics Worsen Cognitive Functioning in First-Episode Psychosis

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Withholding antipsychotics may be beneficial for memory, the researchers write.

Newborn Babies Go Through Antidepressant Withdrawal

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A new study finds that newborn babies experience antidepressant withdrawal after birth if their mothers take SSRIs when pregnant.

Lead Exposure in Childhood Impacts Personality and Mental Health

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A study of over 1.5 million people in Europe and the US links the development of less adaptive personalities with childhood lead exposure.

No, the FDA’s Black Box Warning Did not Increase Suicides

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Researchers again debunk the claim that the FDA black box warnings on antidepressants led to more suicides.

Anticholinergic Medications Linked to Cognitive Impairment in Schizophrenia

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Researchers have found further evidence that the anticholinergic effect of psychiatric drugs can lead to cognitive impairments.

Study Confirms Overdiagnosis of ADHD in Children and Teens

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Medical researchers present evidence that ADHD is overdiagnosed in children and teens, which can lead to significant harm.

Stimulant Prescribing Patterns for ADHD Not Impacted by Scientific Evidence

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The article suggests that research challenging the evidence for ADHD drugs does not lead to changes without public campaigns.

Antidepressants Still Linked to Increased Suicide Risk

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Bias and financial conflicts in antidepressant trials “contribute to systematic underestimation of risk in the published literature.”

Increasing Numbers of Children Prescribed Multiple Psychiatric Medications

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According to researchers, children are being increasingly prescribed multiple different psychiatric medications.

Researchers: Antidepressant Use in Children Increases Suicide, No Evidence of Benefit

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Noted antidepressant researcher, Michael Hengartner, summarizes the latest research on the use of antidepressants in children and adolescents.